Format: ORAL

Klaus Mehltreter1, Rafael P. Farias2

1 Instituto de Ecologia, A.C., Xalapa, Mexico 2 Universidade Federal do Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

In the last decade, studies on fern ecology have overcome many of the historical misjudgments. Some of these preconceptions included the allegedly old evolutionary age of extant ferns, their supposedly low growth rates, low nutrient concentrations, low ability to compete with seed plants, to defend themselves against herbivores, and to withstand environmental catastrophes and anthropogenic disturbances. Furthermore, a high vulnerability of the gametophytic life stage, a low diversity of biochemical compounds, and a reputedly low usefulness for medical or industrial purposes were assumed. We present an overview of the advances in Fern Ecology based on exemplary case studies, which have demonstrated that ferns are much more functionally, ecologically, physiologically, and biochemically diverse than previously thought. In addition, we discuss how the results of current research have changed our perception of the ecological role of ferns in different ecosystems and show how ferns effectively differ from seed plants. Research gaps and open questions are outlined, and future research directions are proposed such as holistic approaches integrating all life stages of ferns, comparative studies between ferns and angiosperms, and conservation approaches to deal with anthropogenic disturbances and climate change. To face these challenges, the future study of fern ecology still requires more inter- and multidisciplinary approaches and intensive collaboration efforts.